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My 54 year old brother has been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes and will not take medication for it. He will not go back to the doctor either. He resides with my 85 year old mother and gets extremely aggitated and angry with her. He yells at her every day and recently has started demanding that she give him his inheritance now before she dies. He thinks she has millions of dollars and won't give it to him. He also thinks he has a girlfriend that is 16 years old. He drives around every day trying to find her and thinks the mob has kidnapped her. He believes that most of the people in our hometown are evil people and he wants mom's money to escape. Now he thinks that his family doctor is involved with the mob so he refuses to go back to see him. I am afraid he will hurt someone or get in trouble but I don't know what to do. Are delusions such as these a part of uncontrolled diabetes or does it sound like there is something else wrong? My mother would never forgive me if I were to call the police about all this but his behavior is escalating. Any ideas?

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7 Replies |Watch This Discussion | Report This| Share this:Uncontrolled Diabetes and delusionalMy 54 year old brother has been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes and will not take medication for it. He will not go back to the doctor either. He resides with my 85 year old mother and gets extremely aggitated and angry with her. He yells at her every day and recently has started demanding that she give him his inheritance now before she dies. He thinks she has millions of dollars and won't give it to him. He also thinks he has a girlfriend that is 16 years old. He drives around every day trying to find her and thinks the mob has kidnapped her. He believes that most of the people in our hometown are evil people and he wants mom's money to escape. Now he thinks that his family doctor is involved with the mob so he refuses to go back to see him. I am afraid he will hurt someone or get in trouble but I don't know what to do. Are delusions such as these a part of uncontrolled diabetes or does it sound like there is something else wrong? My mother would never forgive me if I were to call the police about all this but his behavior is escalating. Any ideas?

It's important that you get your brother to a psychiatrist.He sounds like he has schizophrenia with the delusions he's having. I'm not a doctor or therapist, but it's definitely not normal behavior. He needs to probably be on some medicine. No one hear can diagnose something like this from a posting.

My mom used to act more agitated or lose her temper when she had higher numbers, but this seems to be something else.

Good luck! I hope you can get him there to be evaluated. They often don't think they're sick or need help. It's hard to get some people to take the medicine, too.

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Report This| Share this:Uncontrolled Diabetes and delusionalIt's important that you get your brother to a psychiatrist.He sounds like he has schizophrenia with the delusions he's having. I'm not a doctor or therapist, but it's definitely not normal behavior. He needs to probably be on some medicine. No one hear can diagnose something like this from a posting.

My mom used to act more agitated or lose her temper when she had higher numbers, but this seems to be something else.

Good luck! I hope you can get him there to be evaluated. They often don't think they're sick or need help. It's hard to get some people to take the medicine, too.

You've gotten some good advice here - please do make a phone call immediately to the family doctor and get some guidance. A call to 911 is NOT unreasonable and emergency teams are very skilled at dealing with these sorts of issues.

I understand that you don't want to upset your mother but his escalating behavior could lead to something criminal or worse.

You've gotten some good advice here - please do make a phone call immediately to the family doctor and get some guidance. A call to 911 is NOT unreasonable and emergency teams are very skilled at dealing with these sorts of issues.

I understand that you don't want to upset your mother but his escalating behavior could lead to something criminal or worse.

I wanted to update everyone on the situation with my brother. He seems to have calmed down quite a bit since last week. My mom thinks he calmed down after he vented to me about his delusions. After reading all of the posts it really did help me to know that being delusional wasn't a typical uncontrolled diabetes symptom. I really do believe that my brother has some form of mental illness too. I don't live in the same city as my brother so I am having my sister and other family members keep an eye on him. My sister has the same family doctor as my brother so when she goes to her next appt. she is going to ask their family doctor how best to handle the situation. I tried to get him to let me check his blood sugar level yesterday but I am more concerned about his mental problems now than the diabetes. I think that whatever is going on there has been going on for a long time but I wasn't aware of how extreme that his symptoms had become. It makes me so sad that the world that he lives in so scary and my sister and I are going to do our best to get him help very soon before he hurts himself or anyone else.

Thanks for your Reply!

Report This| Share this:Uncontrolled Diabetes and delusionalI wanted to update everyone on the situation with my brother. He seems to have calmed down quite a bit since last week. My mom thinks he calmed down after he vented to me about his delusions. After reading all of the posts it really did help me to know that being delusional wasn't a typical uncontrolled diabetes symptom. I really do believe that my brother has some form of mental illness too. I don't live in the same city as my brother so I am having my sister and other family members keep an eye on him. My sister has the same family doctor as my brother so when she goes to her next appt. she is going to ask their family doctor how best to handle the situation. I tried to get him to let me check his blood sugar level yesterday but I am more concerned about his mental problems now than the diabetes. I think that whatever is going on there has been going on for a long time but I wasn't aware of how extreme that his symptoms had become. It makes me so sad that the world that he lives in so scary and my sister and I are going to do our best to get him help very soon before he hurts himself or anyone else.

"...Are delusions such as these a part of uncontrolled diabetes or does it sound like there is something else wrong..?"

Delusions, I don't know, but irritability, anxiety, mood swings, rage, depression are common complaints by diabetics who've allowed their blood sugar to go unchecked, high or low. In fact, I'd be more surprised they were not related than vice-versa.

But, regardless what you or I assume, be assured that no trained health professional would knowingly allow uncontrolled diabetes to go untreated for any significant length of time...blood sugar just flat-out affects/controls too many things. Best your brother gets help, soon.

Delusions, I don't know, but irritability, anxiety, mood swings, rage, depression are common complaints by diabetics who've allowed their blood sugar to go unchecked, high or low. In fact, I'd be more surprised they were not related than vice-versa.

But, regardless what you or I assume, be assured that no trained health professional would knowingly allow uncontrolled diabetes to go untreated for any significant length of time...blood sugar just flat-out affects/controls too many things. Best your brother gets help, soon.

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